Down A Different Path
by Laree
Summary: An AU fic. Rukawa plays for Ryonan. Mitsui is the current star player and captain of Shohoku. Will probably be RuMit but with hints of SenMit. Needless to say, it is YAOI
1. Default Chapter

  


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Laree's Slam Dunk Fan fiction

Down A Different Path   
Part One 

" And that, Rukawa-san, is why I believe that Shohoku would be the best school for you." Mitsui Hisashi sat back expansively on his seat , a small, self-satisfied smirk on his lips. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Kogure Kiminobu giving him a thumbs up sign and Akagi Takenori, who was sitting beside him, was nodding his head in total agreement to the thirty minute speech that Mitsui had just recently delivered on the merits of Shohoku High school and its basketball team. The cat, rather, the Kitsune, was in the bag. If that little pro Shohoku speech didn't get him, then nothing would, of this Mitsui was confident. He had to stop himself from cackling out loud as visions of him dominating the world of Japanese Basketball came into mind. With this Rukawa Kaede on their team, Shohoku could only get stronger, and the stronger his team was, the more attainable his dreams were. " Soo...What do you think?" 

" I think you talk too much..." 

Mitsui had to resist the urge to jump up from his chair to strangle the guy. He had just given this boy the honor of listening to his speech, which he had been told by all he had asked, was really rather good, and the only thing that he could say about it was that he thought he talked to much? If he hadn't wanted Rukawa to join the Shohoku team so badly then he would have just said, to hell with it all, and hurled the glass of coke that he held in his hand right into the guy's eerily expressionless face. 

Seeing that the captain of the Shohoku Basketball club was rather pissed at that moment and couldn't be trusted to open his mouth without saying something that would blow their chances, Kogure Kiminobu stepped in rather hastily. "About going to Shohoku and joining the team, he meant, Rukawa-san. We would like to have your answer as soon as possible." 

" That's right. We've just about done with our recruiting and you were the only one that didn't give us an answer immediately..." Akagi put in. 

" Who else have you talked to?" 

Mitsui shrugged. " Only the best recruits in Junior High such as yourself, Rukawa-san." A little discreet flattery could go a long, long way after all. " We believe in taking only the very best in at Shohoku. We have very high standards. We have already managed to recruit several outstanding Junior High basketball players. One of them being Sakuragi Hanamichi, the Center of Wako Junior High. You've heard of him, of course?" 

" That do'aho. I've played against him a few times." 

" See! A familiar face in Shohoku!" Kogure exclaimed excitedly, thinking that the prospect of having someone that he knew in the team would entice the younger boy. 

" The guy is a joke. I wouldn't play in the same team as him if you paid me." 

Mitsui gritted his teeth at this, slightly miffed because the fiery, redheaded player had been a draft choice of his from the start. The guy's fighting spirit appealed to him but he supposed Rukawa found showing any sort of emotion, as Sakuragi tended to do, offensive. " He's better than you think." 

" He's a do'aho." 

" Okay, we're getting off the topic here. We're not asking you for your opinion about Sakuragi Hanamichi, who even I have to admit is a pretty decent player despite of his personality which I find to be lacking..." Akagi thought the redhead was a loudmouth but he was a talented loudmouth nonetheless. One that would greatly help the team. " We're asking you whether or not you plan on going to Shohoku and joining the basketball team once there. We're not expecting your answer right away but we would just like to test the wind here and see how you feel about it. I think playing in Shohoku will benefit you. We are ranked second in Kanagawa, our overall National ranking is fourth place. That's pretty good, but it isn't good enough. We aim for the number one spot in the Nation, Rukawa-san and I'm not going to mince words here. We believe that you will be able to help us get one more step closer to this goal with your talent." 

" So you'd like me to go to Shohoku." 

" Yes." 

" And play with that do'aho." 

" That would seem to be pretty unavoidable, seeing as how Sakuragi-kun is already slated to take the position of Power Forward..." Mitsui replied. 

" No thanks." 

" Wha...What?" Kogure asked in disbelief, pushing his glasses up his nose nervously. His eye's darted over to Mitsui, who he was afraid would launch himself at the guy any second now for acting like a bloody prima donna. They had known of Rukawa's reputation for being difficult but they hadn't been prepared for _this_! " You're giving up the opportunity to play for one of the top four teams in Japan just because you don't like one of the members?!? That's...That's just-" 

" Sheer , fucking stupidity is what it is!" Mitsui finished for him. Though these weren't the words that Kogure would have chosen himself, that was pretty much the gist of what he had been about to say before the captain had interrupted. He didn't care anymore what this bastard thought about him. He had just about had enough. " Are you out of your bloody mind? Why the hell would you turn something like this down? It's a fucking _honor_ to be asked to join the Shohoku team! A fucking _honor_ to play with me and Akagi and Kogure and the others and you turn it down just because you don't fucking like one of the new recruits?" 

" You're upset." 

" Damn right I'm upset." 

Rukawa seemed as unmoved by Mitsui's emotional outburst as ever. " It's not just because of the do'aho. I have another reason." 

" And it just bloody well better be more plausible than that one!" Mitsui growled, wondering if he could just drag Rukawa to school and register him himself. Rukawa was one of the most talented young players around. Tomigaoka was ranked number one in the Junior High basketball circuit because of him. He would hate to lose the guy like this. It wasn't that Shohoku desperately needed the guy. He had a good enough team as it was, it was just that with Rukawa, the team would be even better than it already was, which was saying a lot, what with Shohoku being one of the best teams in the nation. 

" I already decided on Ryonan." 

" Ryonan?" Akagi repeated, thinking that there must really be something wrong with the guy what with him coming up with this stupid decision and the fact that the expression on his face hadn't changed since he first saw him. The word autistic came briefly to mind. " But they didn't even reach the final four last time!" 

" The guy who talked to me was convincing..." 

Mitsui bristled. He was sure that whatever that recruiter from Ryonan had said couldn't have been better than his ' The benefits of going to Shohoku High School' speech. He had a lot of pride in his speech giving abilities. After all, it hadn't failed him with any of the other prospective incoming freshmen, until this one at least. " And which Ryonan bas-" 

" Player." Kogure interjected. 

" Yes. Which Ryonan _player_, came to talk to you, may I ask?" 

Rukawa shrugged. He wasn't really big on details and tended to forget the names of people he thought of as unimportant. " Forgot. Some smiley face. I agreed just so he'd piss off. That's how annoying he was." 

Mitsui caught Kogure's eyes and they both spoke at the same time. " Sendo." 

" I think that was it..." 

" Goddam Sendo Akira!" Mitsui muttered, his hands clenching into fists by his sides. "If it wasn't for the fact that Auntie loves that stupid son of hers so much I would have killed him by now!" 

" Auntie?" Rukawa raised an eyebrow and examined Mitsui closely, " Smiley is a relation of yours?" 

" No. Not really. We've known each other since we were kids, though. Sort of grew up together." Mitsui gritted his teeth, remembering the conversation that he had had with his childhood friend only a few days before about recruiting Rukawa Kaede into the Shohoku team. He hadn't thought of it back then. Though Sendo was a Ryonan player, Mitsui had never held that against him and had never thought that the guy, his best friend in the whole wide world along with Kogure, would do something as underhanded as this. He remembered Sendo saying something about Rukawa being fair game but hadn't really taken it seriously since it had come with the younger boy's usual cheery smile. 

" Oh. Poor you. I only talked to him for a few minutes and couldn't stand anymore of him. Can't imagine what it must have been like for you..." 

" So come to Shohoku!" Mitsui made one last ditch effort to change the boy's mind. " That way, you wont have to be team members with him! If you go to Ryonan, he'll bother you every single day you're there!" 

" I can't go to Shohoku." Rukawa insisted, shaking his dark head adamantly. 

" Why the hell not? Hundreds of kids go to Shohoku every day so why the fuck can't you?" When Mitsui got upset, his sentences were usually peppered with swear words. Needless to say, he was very upset at this moment. He had been busy thinking up great plays that involved the two new freshmen, Sakuragi and Rukawa, and their incredible jumping power and speed. Everything would be ruined if he couldn't convince the guy... 

" Because I don't wanna play with you." 

Mitsui threw his hand up in the air in his exasperation. " Can you please make up your mind? First you say that you don't want to play with Sakuragi, now you say that you don't want to play with _me_! Anyone else in Shohoku that you have a problem with? Do you have something against Akagi? Or maybe there's something about Kogure's glasses that you don't like, dammit?!?" 

" I don't want to play with you. I want to play against you." 

The older boy blinked, not comprehending what the guy meant by this. " What do you mean?" 

Rukawa shrugged. " I'm going to be the best High School basketball player in Japan. To do that, I have to beat you. You, Maki, Fujima and Sendo." 

" But can't you beat me while you play in the same team with me?" Mitsui demanded. Oh, God. He must sound so desperate. This wasn't like him at all, usually. 

" Look. I've made up my mind." Rukawa got to his feet, signaling the end of their talk. " Now if you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone so that I can sleep." 

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	2. Part Two

  


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Laree's Slam Dunk Fanfiction

Down A Different Path   
Part Two 

" Well, well. Isn't this a great way to start the first practice of the school year?" Miyagi Ryota drawled as Mitsui dashed into the gym and collapsed into a haphazard heap onto the polished court floor. " The Great Captain is late, as usual." Clucking his tongue, he made a big show of shaking his head in disapproval. 

" Don't start with me, Miyagi. Not unless you want your ass kicked..." Mitsui moaned and clutched at his stomach. He made a pitiful sight writhing around on the floor like that. It wasn't really unusual for them to see the captain in a similar state at any given day but Kogure didn't really think this was the best image to give the freshmen on their first day. He dashed to Mitsui's side and attempted to talk him into getting up to his feet. " Get away from me, Kogure...Gonna kick that bastard's ass...As soon as I catch my breath again, that is..." 

" Hisa-kun, your shoes..." 

" Figures that you only care about your precious gym floor..." Mitsui muttered, taking in a few, experimental breaths.   
" Don't give a damn that I've just been socked in the guts by a malicious little bitch. What is it with girls, Kogure? What is their problem?! Do they always have to be so violent when I tell them that I'm not interested? Be a pal and take off my shoes for me, will yah?" 

Kogure did as he was asked to and gestured for freshmen who had gathered around Mitsui's prone figure to move back. He could hear a few snickering, the redheaded Sakuragi of Wako Junior High letting out the loudest of them all. No, this definately was not a good start to the year. Thank god that Anzai-sensei wasn't going to show up for this practice. He could hear a slight commotion from behind him. Akagi had just delivered a punch to the Sakuragi's head and was demanding to know what was so funny about the captain's suffering. " If you'd only be a bit nicer..." 

" I _was_ being nice!" Mitsui protested, finally managing to sit himself up. He glared balefully at Miyagi as he reached for the gym bag which he had dropped beside him and proceeded to pull on his trainers. " Then she just suddenly punched me! These girls are getting on my nerves...I swear, sometimes I think the whole world would be a better place without them..." 

" Never knew you were the type who went for yaoi..." Kogure commented innocently. 

" Me?! No! No! What are you talking about? Of course not!" Mitsui sat himself up straighter and tried to look as macho as one could while sitting spreadeagled on the ground with another young man kneeling by him. " I'm just saying that they're sometimes annoying! It's not that I don't like girls! It's just that I still have to find a half way decent one!" 

Kogure blinked at his reaction. " Hisashi-kun! I don't have anything against gay people! I wouldn't mind a bit if you were-" 

" Who the hell have you been talking to?" Mitsui hissed, red faced. He glanced around at the others to see if they had been following their conversation. 

" Er...No one...I was just saying..." 

" Oh..." Mitsui relaxed. He even managed to flash Kogure one of his easy smiles. " I thought that maybe you thought that I was, though I'm not. Anyways, lets get on with things, shall we?" 

After being helped up to his feet and introducing himself, Ayako and the rest of the seniors on the team, Mitsui asked the freshmen to introduce themselves to the seniors. There was quite a lot of them this year. A few, like Sakuragi Hanamichi, had been especially recruited by Mitsui himself. There was quite a lot of new, promising talent and Mitsui was looking forward to getting to see these kids in action. Especially the redhead. Too bad that he hadn't been able to convince that Rukawa to join the Shohoku team. 

" _I am Sakuragi Hanamichi of Class 1-7. I come from Wako Junior High and my position is Center!_" The freshman practically yelled. 

" Good, good, Sakuragi-kun. Here you will be playing as the Power Forward though. Not Center." Mitsui informed the younger boy. 

Hanamichi laughed as he began to shake his head furiously. " Oh, no, no, no, Micchy. I don't play any other position but Center! I've always been Center and always will be..." There was a hint of a threat in his tone of voice as he glared down at the slightly shorter captain. 

" Well..." Mitsui's voice was slightly less self confident this time. He had never liked pain and the redhead's eye's promised plenty of it if he even tried to contradict. " Someone is already playing Center here..." 

Hanamichi shrugged. " That's no problem. You just tell the guy to give me the position. Only the Tensai deserves such an important and crucial job as being the Center!" 

" Care to have a little talk with the Shohoku Center about this then?" Mitsui asked, a little smile forming on his lips as he gestured for Akagi to come forward. 

Shouts of pain filled the gym as Akagi managed to convince the freshman to abandon his plans of taking over his position. Just when Sakuragi was pleading for the ' Gori ', as he had dubbed him, to let go off him as he couldn't breath anymore, a soft, tentative voice interrupted the potential homicide, " Nii-chan...What are you doing to that guy?" 

" Haruko! Don't mind him. He's an idiot." Deciding that the little fool had had enough, Akagi released his grip on him and allowed him to crumple onto the floor. 

Akagi Haruko was a picture of concern as she dashed into the court. She took a moment to lightly smack Mitsui and Kogure on the shoulders. " How could you two just stand there and watch the guy being strangled?" She demanded. 

Kogure scratched his head awkwardly while Mitsui shuffled his feet. " We just didn't wanna meddle..." The Shohoku captain mumbled meekly. He and Kogure had known Haruko since they were little and though they were a couple of years older than her, she didn't think twice about reprimanding them when the need arose. 

Haruko gave them one last glare before she knelt down by Sakuragi, her elder brother glowering down at her the whole time. " Hey, are you okay?" She asked softly, reaching out to lay a hand gently against his shoulder. Akagi looked as though he was ready to blow up. He couldn't stand the sight of his younger sister being so friendly towards such a cretin. 

Hanamichi was about to snap out a biting reply, did she think she would be all right after being strangled half to death by a big, dumb gorilla, when he looked up and found himself gazing into the warmest, most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen. " I...I...I..." He spluttered. He knew that this was the time to say something intelligent and funny, but for some reason, his brain seemed to have stopped functioning...He could only stutter that word out over and over again like a broken record. 

" Oh, good God..." Mitsui muttered under his breath as he watched the younger boy's reaction. " The idiot is in love... Will I ever again, in my life, lay my eyes on something as pathetic as Sakuragi Hanamichi is at this moment?" 

Miyagi came up to stand beside Mitsui, a smirk on his face. " Well. This ought to be interesting..." 

Haruko just smiled. As though Hanamichi wasn't acting at all strange. " Hi. I'm Akagi Haruko."   


~**~ 

" Trust Sendo to be late on the first day of practices..." Koshino Hiroaki scowled, his eyes trained on the entrance to the gym. He was too worried to actually listen to the welcome to the Freshmen speech that Coach Taoka was giving. He had seen the old man's eyes narrow once he noticed that the spiky haired star player of Ryonan was still not there and he was sure that Sendo would be in for quite a scolding once he decided to grace the common people with his revered presence. " That's the problem with these so called ' Ace Players'. They all act like Prima Donnas. Sendo thinks that he can just get to practice any time he bloody well feels like it just because he happens to be one of the best players in the team. Well-" 

" Er...Koshino-kun, I think your audience has fallen asleep." Ikegami Ryoji informed him as he gestured towards the peacefully sleeping dark haired boy sitting beside him. Rukawa had his head resting against another freshman, Hikoichi Aida, who didn't dare move. He was a classmate of Rukawa's and had seen what had happened to the unlucky student that had tried to wake him up just that morning. Needless to say, it hadn't been pretty and Hikoichi would like to avoid the same fate as much as he possibly could. 

" Oh, good God. How the hell can he sleep with the Coach shouting out his little pep talk?" Koshino asked, watching with morbid fascination as a drop of drool made it's way down the boy's slightly open mouth onto the floor. " That is just disgusting..." 

Ikegami shrugged. " Who knows? Who even cares as long as the kid is as good on the court as they all say he is? I've only seen him playing once, against Wako and he seemed to be a natural born ball player. Only problem is that he seems to be a bit of a maniac. He spent nearly the whole game exchanging insults with that weird redheaded center that Wako had before..." 

Koshino chuckled. " Do you know that this guy supposedly turned down Mitsui Hisashi's offer to play for Shohoku just because they'd already recruited that Sakuragi Hanamichi?" 

" You're kidding, right?" 

" No, senpai. I'm serious!" Koshino insisted, raising his right hand up as though he were taking an oath. " See, I'm friends with Mitsui's younger cousin, knew him from primary school, and Mitsui-san couldn't stop going on and on about Rukawa and how he was going to bring him down when the time for the IH preliminaries come. My friend said that Rukawa actually told Mitsui to his face that he was going to beat him." 

Ikegami shook his head at this. He was amazed that a rookie like Rukawa, no matter how good he was supposed to be, would have the guts to say something like that to one of the best players in the Kanagawa region. " Well, we've got to give the guy some credit for his guts..." 

" Oh, I don't know. I think the guy is just very, very stupid." Koshino remarked. " Anyways, maybe with Rukawa in our team this year along with Sendo and Uozumi-senpai, we actually have a chance to be one of the top four teams in Kanagawa..." 

" I think that's perfectly possible. It will be interesting to play against Shohoku again. Mitsui could only have gotten better after all this time and he was already unbelievable the last time that we played against them." 

" Yeah. I wonder who they'll have guarding Rukawa. Maybe Mitsui himself?" 

Ikegami shook his head. " I don't think so. Mitsui already has dibs on Sendo. Always has and always will. They'll probably put that new freshman of theirs from Wako on him. The one that I told you about before." 

" If you two gentlemen would like to shut your mouths now..." It was only when Coach Taoka spoke that the two noticed that the man had his attention on them. " Maybe we could go on with the introduction of the freshmen. Rukawa, would you like to start us off?" Moichi Taoka rubbed his hands together gleefully as he eyed the latest addition to his team. One that would undoubtedly bring him all the glory that he craved. There was no response. Rukawa remained silent except for the occasional snore. 

He tried again. " Rukawa?" It was then that Taoka noticed the small puddle of drool that had gathered on the floor beside the rookie. He gritted his teeth, reminding himself that it wouldn't be wise for him to blow up at his star on his first day. He cleared his throat and made his voice louder. " Rukawa." 

Still no response. Finally, losing his temper, Taoka hurled the towel that he held in his hand at the sleeping form even though Hikoichi begged him to let the guy be. 

Rukawa's eyes flew open suddenly and locked on Taoka. " I will not let anybody disturb my sleep no matter who they are." He recited in his usual monotone. " You shall be punished." He jumped to his feet and the ensuing chaos that followed as he hurled himself at his new coach made sure that Sendo wasn't even noticed by Coach Taoka when he finally did make it to the practice a whole thirty minutes late. 

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	3. Part Three

  


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Laree's Slam Dunk Fanfiction

Down a Different Path   
Part Three 

He could feel the piercing eyes taking in his every movement. Gritting his teeth, Mitsui pretended to notice nothing unusual and went right on raking out all the muck under his bed in search of the bundle of parental consent forms for the basketball club that his pet bulldog had dragged under the bed. " Oh, god..." He muttered as he threw what looked to be the remnants of some sort of sandwich over his shoulder. He vowed silently to himself that he would never be such a pig again before taking a deep breath and continuing in his search once more. He shuddered to think of what would happen to him when Ayako got wind of the fact that he had somehow managed to lose those forms...He was so young! He didn't want to die yet... Letting out a little whimper of fright at the thought of the evillest of evil tools, the one that had struck fear into the hearts of two years worth of Shohoku basketball club members, the fan that spared no one, he continued indiscriminately throwing his things around his room, ignoring the lazy drawling voice of his companion. 

" Mit-chan." 

A dirty old sock, a half eaten apple that had gotten mouldy...God that smelled bad...The history homework that he had managed to sweet talk Kogure into doing for him but which he hadn't been able to pass anyways since he had somehow lost it... 

" Mit-chan." Sendo Akira tried once more even though he knew that this would do him no good. He had spent the last half hour watching Mitsui pawing through his things, trying to get him to listen to him to no avail. The older boy seeemed set on ignoring him, obviously angry at him about something, and he could take a pretty good guess at what this something was. Getting irritated at having all sorts of foul things haphazardly flung about him, one of Mitsui's gym socks even managing to land right on his face, Sendo decided to finally put him out of his misery and flung the bundle of forms that had set the Shohoku captain on his epic quest in the first place, right at the back of said captain's head. 

" Itai!" The older boy growled, bringing his hand up gingerly to the injured area. He whipped around rapidly and flung the forms right back at Sendo, not realizing what they were. 

The boy caught them deftly and tipped his head quizzically to one side." I thought you were looking for these..." He remarked casually. Holding them up so that Mitsui could see what they were. 

Scowling, Mitsui pushed himself off from the ground, stalked over to him and snatched them away from him. Still glaring daggers at the spiky haired boy, he waled over to where he had dropped his school bag and proceeded to stuff them in. 

Sendo raised an eyebrow. " What? Not even a thank you?" 

" Don't mess with me, Sendo. Not after what you did." Mitsui snapped, eyes flaring. He couldn't believe the nerve that this guy had, just walking into his room as though he hadn't just double crossed him and acting as though everything was perfectly all right between the two of them. " And you should have given them to me as soon as you got them. You were just hiding them from me just so that I could look like a fool, weren't you?" 

" First of all, I wasn't hiding them. Rusty brought them to me." Sendo gently nudged the sleeping dog on the carpeted floor with the toe of his sneakers, smiling cheerfully as it rolled over onto its other side. "Second, I _was_ trying to tell you that I had them but you were too busy being too angry at me to listen. Lastly, I like watching you crawling around the floor like that. It gives me a perfect view of your ass..." 

Mitsui reddened at this, wishing that he was wearing anything but the rather skimpy blue shorts that he had on at that moment. " Sendo..." 

The younger boy raised his hand to stop him from going any further. "Yeah, yeah. We've gone through all of that before. You appreciate my feelings for you but you're not that type. You'd prefer to remain just friends..." 

" It's not that I have anything against...against..." 

" Gay people? I know, Mit-chan. Hell, you're still friends with me even after you found out the truth, aren't yah? I'm grateful to you for that...But, I was only kidding about the ass thing! I just wanted to freak you out a bit, that was all. I'm completely over you already, hard as this may be for you to believe." Sendo chuckled, seeing the stricken look on the guy's face. " Geez, man. You look spooked. I got to chat with Kogure-sempai today. He told me all about yesterday's practice. About the way that you freaked when he implied that you were a yaoi supporter...Also about how angry you were at me for ' stealing Rukawa away from you' to quote his quote of you." 

Mitsui scowled, not really finding anything at all funny about what Sendo considered to be a joke. Also, he would have to have a little talk with Kogure about not divulging information about what went on in their practices to the enemy, and Sendo Akira had proved to be the enemy. " You did steal Rukawa away from me." 

" Uh-uh. No way I didn't." Sendo insisted, his annoyingly cheerful grin still pasted on his face as he watched Mitsui sitting himself down onto the edge of his bed. "In order for me to 'steal' Rukawa Kaede from you, he would have had to have been yours in the first place and he wasn't, now was he? You haven't even met him before I managed to get to him. Besides, it wasn't my idea to recruit the guy for the Ryonan team. Captain Uozumi gave me the job 'cos he knows of my great charm and-" 

" Great charm my ass..." Mitsui's lips drew down into as small frown when he noticed the hentai smile that suddenly appeared on the Ryonan player's face at the mention of his ass. He immediately regretted his choice of words. 

" Mit-chan, please don't be angry at me. Please. You know that I can never stand it when you are!" As suddenly as the smile had appeared, it was gone and a very penitent and very somber Sendo pleaded beseechingly with Mitsui for his understanding. "It really wasn't my idea and I'm sorry for it, all right. But you have to remember that thing that you're always saying, ' forget all friendships on court. Only your fellow team members matter when the game is on.' Well, how come that doesn't apply to me then? I was only listening to Uozumi sempai. How come I'm not allowed to try and further my own team if it even dares to inconvenience you the slightest bit?" 

Mitsui waved his hand away dismissively. He hadn't even bothered to listen to half of Sendo's speech. The only thing that had registered was that the guy had been grovelling for his forgiveness, which was enough for him. " It doesn't matter much to me anymore. Ryonan can keep that idiot Rukawa as far as I'm concerned. We don't need a guy in the team stupid enough to turn down the great honor of being able to play for one of the top teams in the country! Besides, I realize now that it wouldn't have worked out anyways. I would never have been able to stand being in the same team as someone so egotistical as that guy!" 

Sendo rolled his eyes, wondering to himself how it was that Mitsui was able to bear his own rather egotistical self. 

" Do you know what that guy told me when I went to talk to him?" 

"Yes. It was all over school already but I'm sure that you're about to tell me again, nevertheless." Sendo remarked dryly. 

Mitsui ignored his rather obvious lack of enthusiasm. "He told me that he was going to beat me! Isn't that just the stupidest thing that you've ever heard? He's do damn cocky he's unbelievable! In fact, he's even worse than that redheaded idiot! At least that one stops going on and on about what a genius he is whenever Haruko is around but that Rukawa..." Mitsui shook his head helplessly, not really understanding what it was about the Ryonan freshman that got him so fired up. " There's just something that's so damn annoying about him! I think it's the way that he moves and acts, you know. As though he owns the court. As though he has no doubts in his mind that he's going to come out on top..." 

" Rather reminds me of someone that I know..." Sendo remarked, blue eyes widened innocently as he fixed his gaze pointedly on Mitsui. 

"Oh, yeah?" The older boy said with interest. " Who?" 

" Never mind,Mit-chan." 

" Aww, come on Sen-chan...Who are you talking about? I wanna know!" 

The spiky haired Ryonan player snickered, marvelling at how amazingly dense the guy could be. He found it rather funny that someone so slow on the uptake and so muddleheaded could become such a great team captain for Shohoku. He guessed that that said a lot about the kind of members that the Shohoku team had. A great, hulking gorilla, a redhead with delusions of grandeaur, a grovelling, love struck point guard, and Mitsui Hisashi, no need to elaborate on what was wrong with that guy. As far as Sendo could see, Kogure was the only halfway normal guy in the team! " Never mind, Mit-chan. If you don't know who I'm talking about by now, then I would rather not tell you..."   


~**~ 

Sendo collapsed back onto his bed with a loud sigh. For some reason, paying visits to Mitsui, the guy who he considered to be his very best friend in the world, along with Koshi-kun, were always rather draining for him. He guessed that it was because he always had to consciously prevent himself from saying or doing something that might upset him. Like today for instance... 

He groaned, burying his face into his pillow and wondering if his mother would be awfully upset if he just up and killed himself right then. Realizing what a stupid question this was, Sendo settled for running his fingers agitatedly through his dark hair, a rather painful process due to the fact that it was all clumped together, what with all the Extra-Extra-Extra strong hold gel that he had dumped into his head that morning. Once more, Sendo marvelled at how resilient his crowning glory was, being able to withstand all the chemicals that it was slathered in daily. But that wasn't his problem right then. He could worry about chemical induced premature balding later on once his hair started coming out in huge clumps. Right now, he had to worry about Mitsui. 

He beat his head disconsolately against the headboard of his bed Hanamichi Style, only stopping when he realized that a thick lock of his hair had been bent askew by the force of the blows. He took some time to fix this before he collapsed back down onto his stomach, his eyes on a cluster of picture frames on his bedside table which had been there for as long as he could even remember."Akira and Hisashi. Hisashi and Akira." He whispered softly, taking one of the frames into his hand and rolling over onto his back so that he could examine it in more comfort. 

He remembered this picture. The two of them had only been five years old back then and his mother, who had been working for Mitsui's dad as his personal assistant, had taken them out to play at the park. There was a chubby little Sendo Akira, holding the hand of the equally chubbly little Mitsui Hisashi. There were pictures of the two of them on Mitsui's first day of school, Sendo clinging onto the older boy and crying, pictures of the two of them playing basketball together, In uniform for Sendo's first day at Junior High, one of them in basketball uniforms giving each other the high five, one of the whole basketball team right after they had won the championships and Mitsui had gotten the M.V.P award and Sendo with Mitsui at his graduation. But after that...Nothing. 

They had gone their different ways. Not to say that their friendship had fizzled out or anything, thank God. Sendo didn't know what he would do if that ever happened. Mitsui meant so much to him...They had just mutually decided to cool things off a little bit after Mitsui had gone on to High School. All because Sendo just had to open his big mouth and tell him how he felt about him. Things were pretty much back to normal now, the two of them were just as close at they had ever been before but the Ryonan player couldn'thelp noticing the subtle changes in their relationship...Sendo had to watch himself so that he wouldn't slip and remind Mitsui of the awkward situation of a few years back. But he had slipped today. Lucky that he had had the presence of mind to just laugh and tell him that it was all a big joke. 

Everyone had been surprised when Sendo, who had hero worshipped the older boy, had chosen not to follow his former captain to Shohoku after he had graduated. That was what everyone had expected. Faithful old Sendo trailing around after Mitsui. He had told the people who had asked that it was because Ryonan was so much nearer to his home and had a better academic record when compared to Shohoku. That was hardly the truth. That had nothing to do with why he chose Ryonan. He really had intended to follow Mitsui. Mitsui was his bestfriend, his motivator, the one that inspired him...But after what had happened after the graduation ceremony...He couldn't bring himself to. 

Also, part of it was that he really didn't want to be in the older boy's shadow anymore. He had spent all of his Junior High years hearing about what a great player the guy was and he wanted to make a name for himself. He knew that he was capable of playing just as well as Mitsui, maybe even better, if only they gave him the kind of oppurtunities that was regularly given to the older boy. And he knew that he wouldn't get those while playing under the Shohoku captain. 

But Sendo had to be realistic. He knew that the reason that he had avoided Mitsui for his whole first year of High School was because of the fact that Mitsui had rejected him... 

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	4. Part Four

  


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Laree's Slam Dunk Fanfiction

Down a Different Path   
Part Four 

Five Years Before   
Outside the Takeishi Junior High Gym 

"Oi! Sendo. Get your ass off of there and back into the gym right now before I'm forced to drag you back inside." 

" _Drag_ me back inside, Mit-chan?" Sendo repeated with a small smile. He raised an eyebrow as he pointedly examined the older boy that had sat himself down beside him. Mitsui, though a year older, was at least some three inches smaller than him, and was of a lighter build. " Can I ask how you will succeed in doing that?" 

" Don't get cocky just because you're an overgrown giant." 

" Overgrown giant?" Sendo snorted. " The only overgrown giant around here is the one in the gym right now masquerading as our captain..." 

" So that's why you stormed out of the gym, huh? Got sick of Tokito picking on you..." 

" Who wouldn't?" Sendo demanded, fuming. He brought his balled up fist angrily against his thigh. " It's like I'm all that he ever sees, Mit-chan. It's always Sendo, don't do this! Sendo, you're doing that wrong! Sendo! Why don't you get a few shooting tips from Mitsui here?" The younger boy snorted, wondering what he had ever done to deserve all of that from the Tekeishi basketball team captain. 

" Maybe he has a crush on you..." Mitsui suggested with a small smirk. 

" Oh, please. Now you've succeeded in giving me nightmares for the rest of my days." Sendo shuddered at the image of their big, brawny captain, kneeling in front of a shrine with an enlarged picture of himself surrounded by incense and flowers. " I don't need that sort of thought at the back of my mind. Now I'm probably going to burst out laughing every time I see Tokito's ugly face..." 

" Ugly, and yet a strangely appealing guy..." Mitsui agreed, laughing as he remembered his reaction the day that he had been introduced to their captain's gorgeous girlfriend. How someone with a face that only his mother could love had ended up with a girl that pretty was completely beyond Mitsui's comprehension. He guessed that there had to be something more to their captain than met the eye. 

" Whatever appeal Tokito has is lost to me..." Sendo muttered, still angry. His cheeks still burned when he thought about the scolding that he had been given inside the gym about his shooting skills. He had been so embarrassed having the captain shouting at him and comparing him to Mitsui right in front of the whole team. The cruelest thing about that was that Mitsui Hisashi had been there to witness everything. Mit-chan, his best friend, and the person that he completely idolized. 

" Maa, Sen-chan..." Mitsui casually draped a heavy arm around Sendo's shoulders. The younger boy worked hard to keep his face from reddening visibly without much success. A person couldn't control the blood flow to his face no matter how hard he tried after all. He was sure that this was nothing more than a friendly gesture on the older boy's part, and yet, these days, he had been reading more and more into Mitsui's actions. Something that he knew wasn't right. Mitsui was his best friend. Mitsui was a _guy_! Like _him_ for God's sake...Besides, he was sure that Mitsui, a guy's guy, if Sendo had ever seen one, would simply freak if he found out about the recent changes of his feelings towards him..." Do you want to know _why_ Toki-chan is that way?" 

" He was born naturally bad tempered?" 

" No. Toki-chan is actually quite nice, once you get to know him. And actually, in my first year here in Takeishi, he was the same way with me too. He was only the vice captain back then, like I am right now, and he was always shouting at me, yelling at me about all of my mistakes and never seeing all the things that I did well. Yes, Sen-chan, I know that this is hard for you to believe, but even I, Mitsui Hisashi, the ace player of Takeishi, wasn't always as good at basketball as I am now..." Mitsui either didn't see, or chose to ignore Sendo rolling his eyes. " I got really pissed off with him because of that. I've never really been able to take criticisms all that well, Sen-chan, you know me. So I confronted him. I asked him why the hell he was always picking on me and you know what he told me?" 

" He was trying to shoot down your over inflated view of yourself?" 

Mitsui glared at him. " I'm trying to make you feel better here." 

The younger boy smiled. " I know." 

" So anyways..." Mitsui gave him a look which clearly told Sendo not to try interrupting him with any more of his droll comments unless he wanted to be seriously injured. " He told me that all he was trying to do was to encourage me." 

" _Encourage_ you?" Sendo repeated in bewilderment. " He thinks that yelling at you constantly about your minor mistakes is _encouraging_?" 

Mitsui shrugged. " Hey, who ever said that our dear Captain's reasoning is easy to understand? But that's the way that he is. He thinks that by pointing out all of your mistakes, he can goad you into improving your skills so that you become even better. To tell you the truth, his tactic actually works too. All of his mocking pushed me to practice perfecting my already great basketball skills until I became the Ace that I am now. He likes you, Sen-chan. He thinks you have talent. That's why he always picks on you. I think you're going to be a great ball player too. Someday soon." 

Sendo looked inquiringly at Mitsui, wondering if the older boy was fooling around with him again, as he usually did. But to his surprise, he found a dead serious Mitsui looking right back at him. His cheeks reddened and he hurriedly tore his gaze away from Mitsui's steady blue ones. 

" So you understand now why Tokito is so hard on you? And why I don't do anything to stop him when he is?" 

Slowly, Sendo nodded. He wondered if Mitsui knew how much his words meant to him..' I think you're going to be a great ball player too. Someday soon...' The words played over and over in Sendo's mind and right then and there, he swore to himself that he would fulfill Mitsui's prediction. He would prove Mitsui right. One day, he was going to be a top class player, right up there in the older boy's league. One day, Sendo would proud to play with Mitsui as his captain. 

" That's good then..." Smiling, the older boy ruffled his hair playfully as he got up to his feet. " Better get back to practice then, ne? Or Toki-chan will be after your head..." 

" I'll be right there. I just need a drink..." Sendo told him, as he watched Mitsui walking away.. 

_Mit-chan...I'm going to become a great player...Like you want me to. And then I'll help you bring Takeishi the championship_...Sendo vowed, as he too rose to get a drink before returning to practice.   


~**~ 

Four Years Before   
In Sendo's Room 

" I've been...We'll...I've been hearing a lot of weird things about you lately, Sen-chan..." Mitsui muttered, as his hands fidgeted nervously with the miniature basketball that he held in his hand. He fixed his gaze on the hoop nailed into the wall across him, took aim and let the ball fly. It went in cleanly. The perfect shot, as always. 

" What sort of things? And what have I _supposedly_ done this time?" Sendo asked, not really too concerned. The students of Takeishi had always been a talkative and rather inventive bunch. Sendo and Mitsui both being popular and high profile guys around campus, were quite often made the subjects of much gossip, so Sendo was used to hearing all sorts of things about himself. He and Mitsui often discussed them, finding them funny, so he wasn't too alarmed when the older boy brought up this topic. He didn't notice the hesitation of the newly declared Takeishi Basketball Club captain. 

" Well...Stuff...Stuff about you and...Well..." Mitsui cleared his throat uncomfortably. " Stuff about you and this...guy." 

" What guy?" 

" I have this cousin in Kainan Junior High School...You know him, right?" 

" Nobu-chan?" 

" Yeah. Nobu-chan. And...Well, he and his parents came over to visit yesterday and Nobu and I got to talking and he brought up the subject of this guy named Maki Shinichi, the captain of their basketball club...He...Well, he sort of mentioned that there was a rumor going around Kainan that you were going out with this guy. This Maki." 

Sendo nearly choked on the soda that he had been drinking. Oh God. It had gotten out. He cast around frantically for some way to get out of answering this question. He wasn't ready for his relationship with Maki Shinichi to be out in the open yet. Most of all, he wasn't ready for Mitsui to find out the truth. Not yet. " Shin-chan?" 

Mitsui's eyebrow raised at the familiar way in which he had referred to the guy in question. " This isn't...True, is it, Sen-chan?" the older boy asked him warily. " I mean, okay. So I've found a few yaoi doujinshi around your room once in a while, and so you like Ai No Kusabi...I'm sure that doesn't mean anything, though...Even _I_ have looked through some yaoi doujinshis just to see what they're all about...And I've got to admit that Ai No Kusabi really has quite a good plot...You're not...Gay, though, Sen-chan...Are you?" 

Sendo didn't reply. Instead, he just answered Mitsui's question with another one. " Would it matter if I were?" 

" Sen-chan?" 

" Would it change anything?" 

Mitsui shrugged. The truth was that he didn't know. Sendo had been his friend since childhood, but he really wouldn't know how he would react if he found out that what he had been hearing from his cousin had been the truth. At least not until he heard Sendo's answer. " I...don't know, Sen-chan." 

Sendo looked up at him sadly, feeling his heart break as he saw the embarrassment on Mitsui's face. This confirmed Sendo's worst fears. The look on his childhood friend's face told him that he would never be able to confront the older boy with his feelings, the feelings that he had been hiding for the past year or so, and which he had tried to forget by getting involved with another guy. A guy who he liked very much but who, truth be told, would never be able to compare to his Sempai. 

" Please, Sen-chan. Just tell me the truth..." 

Sendo closed his eyes in an attempt to block out the image of Mitsui's beautiful face. But in his mind's eye, he could still see it. The expressive blue eyes, the sexy mouth which was always so ready with a smile or an encouraging comment...The older boy was asking him for the truth, and yet Sendo knew that he wouldn't like it. That everything would change once he told him, and he didn't want things to change. Actually, he did. He wanted Mitsui. He wanted Mitsui to look at him and not just see a friend, but a lover. But those were not the sort of changes that his confession would bring about at that moment. Of this he was sure. 

In a moment of clarity, Sendo made his decision. It was better for him to have Mitsui as just a friend than to not have him at all. Telling his best friend the truth, the truth about himself, and the truth about the way he felt for him. could come later. Later on, once he knew that the older boy would be able to handle it. 

Taking a deep breath to compose himself, the spiky haired boy opened his eyes, his lips quirking up into a big smile. "Of course it's true about me and Shin-chan, Mit-chan!" Sendo exclaimed. Well, it was...So he wasn't exactly lying to Mitsui then, Sendo reasoned out to himself. He could see a look of alarm crossing the captain's face. He went on, "And that thing about me and our coach is true too! And you know that rumor where I'm supposed to be going out with that Uozumi guy from that other High School? That's also true!" Laughing wildly at nothing in particular, Sendo collapsed onto his bed, clutching his stomach. 

After a while, Mitsui also joined him in his laughter. " I thought it was only a rumour..." Mitsui said, sounding incredibly relieved. " I bashed Nobu-kun when he told me about it. I insisted that you weren't a fag. God... I wonder where these people get all these sick ideas! It's those yaoi doujinshis that you're so fond of!" 

Sendo shrugged. " I just want to see why girls find them so interesting! Research, you know?" 

" Research, huh? Speaking of research, I've been doing some of my own and guess what I've found?" 

" What, Mit-chan?" Sendo tried his best to sound interested. 

" There's this girl from the Volleyball Club, quite pretty in fact, who has a big crush on you! I say go for it, Sen-chan! To prove to everyone that you're no fag..." 

Sendo listened all the while to Mitsui going into great detail about the girl. No one, he thought to himself, as once in a while he nodded and smiled at Mitsui's ramblings, can possibly know how awful it feels for me to have to keep this stupid smile on my face while my heart is being broken by the guy that I love... 

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